


Like Falling off a House

by Skatearound



Series: Any Sort of Plans [2]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 11:22:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9818156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skatearound/pseuds/Skatearound
Summary: Keith is surprised to find out he has a granddaughter





	

Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!" (which was very likely true.)

  
**Alice in Wonderland** , Chapter 1 _Down the Rabbit Hole_  


 Lewis Carroll  


“Wallis, we’re a mess.” Veronica mopped tomato sauce as she walked to the door. “They were supposed to come later. Stay here while I get the door, no climbing now and you can go up the stairs later.” In a higher pitch, she continued: “Yes, mommy, of course I’ll be good.” Veronica snorted. “Just behave, kid, for a minute.”  With a final hopeless wipe at Wallis’s shirt she put her in the playpen and scrubbed at her own front. “Dammit.” She opened the door and stood there, dropped the towel. “Dad?”

Someone blindsided her from behind, pulled her to the left.  She raised both legs and twisted as she arched her back and shoved him away with both feet, rolled away from him.  “Stop, Peter.”  Her roll brought her in sight of Keith Mars who might be going for a gun. Men. She let her momentum carry her to him, grabbed and twisted her Dad’s wrist, bringing him to his knees.  “Stop.” She felt desperate “Drop it.”

Keith stood up. Peter moved forward, guarding her. Men. “Peter, this is my father.” Peter extended his hand stiffly. “Good to meet you, Sir.”  Peter knew most of the story, but probably believed the worst of her Dad. She suddenly thought of Aaron. _Fuck, did everyone think?_ _She never told them why she didn’t tell her father. Why hadn’t she?_

“Dad, this is my friend and…um…housemate, Peter.” Veronica pulled down her t shirt and bit down on her lower lip, hard.  At least she’d fed Wallis recently, she hadn’t leaked.  Wallis squealed with excitement in the playpen, short blonde hair and brown eyes and wearing the same tomato sauce that Veronica was wearing. Veronica crossed her arms in front of her breasts and quickly dropped them and mentally kicked herself around the block three times and into a bush, but his eyes were drawn from Wallis to her larger breasts, another point of confirmation. She was full of tells.

Keith’s eyes had gone back to Wallis. “Your housemate ambushes you?”

“I’ve been using myself as bait to catch muggers and I like to keep my skills sharp.” Veronica was relieved to see Mark jumping the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. He stood behind her, affable but twice Keith’s size.

“She caught eight last month. A personal best.” Mark put his arm around Veronica and looked down at her proudly. Mark was so dark that her father wouldn’t think he was Wallis’s father.  Keith scowled at her and looked at Peter thoughtfully.

Peter said “Mark, this is Veronica’s father.”

“Hello sir.” Mark was immediately respectful, but still held on to her. “Peter, we have to go right now to get to the airport,” he bent down so his mouth was near Veronica’s ear. “but we can change flights.”

She shook her head, mouthed” I’m fine.” Mark kissed her on the forehead. _Why is it always the forehead?_

“I’d do better if I didn’t have to find a babysitter…. My Dad, Keith Mars…. Mark, Peter’s boyfriend.” Keith shook hands with Mark. “You should go, we’ll be fine.” No one moved.  “Peter’s teaching me martial arts, Dad. It’s just a game we play, sorry Dad. Are you OK?” She picked up the towel and draped it over her shoulder as she picked up Wallis. The whole conversation was stilted. Peter hugged her on their way out and told her to call if she needed to talk.

“This is why you didn’t come home last Christmas?”

“Yup, couldn’t fit through the door. You have luggage? There it is!” She picked it up like it was a life preserver.  “Come in and close the door. What brings you here, I told you I was coming this Christmas.”

“It’s been sixteen months, Veronica. Nineteen if you don’t count that couple of days you avoided me.” A growl that suddenly softened.  “You could have come back and I would have taken care of you. And what about the muggers?”

“I want to take care of myself. Muggers were a joke, mostly. I caught some rapists, though.” _Stop talking, Veronica. “_ Coffee, tea, beer? The lasagna is in the oven, what we’re not wearing.” She took a deep breath and smiled to let it out. _Happy, happy, joy, joy_. “I have friends coming, Wallace and Mac and, well, Dick.  you can stay and join us but the fighting can wait. We need a shower.” Gesturing at Wallis, she mustered the biggest smile. “It’s good to see you, Daddy.”

 “What’s her name?”

“Wallis Mackenzie Mars.” Veronica put her on the stairs and Wallis started to climb up with Veronica shadowing her. “We’ll be down shortly. Go down the hall there, grab yourself something to eat or drink. It’s vegan…” Keith looked dazed. Wallis was finishing her climb.

“Does Piz know?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, Wallace probably told him. I didn’t because I thought…never mind... I never actually had sex with Piz, Dad. She’s um.  _Hurry Wallis…._ She’s my kid, Dad. Mine and Mac’s, um, we married and Mac adopted her. Let’s not go through the whole football team trying to figure out the father. “  

Veronica fumbled the baby gate open, picked up her offspring on the second to top step and walked to her room without bothering to turn on the hall light.  Wallis squeaked indignantly and pounded her with her small fists.  _I’ll make it up to you, kid. I know how it feels._ Veronica fumbled and opened the door. F _ootball team, Veronica? Because he needs that image. Tomorrow he can see you take a turn on stage stripping. Fun times_. _He’ll figure out the dad soon enough, it’s the shock that’s slowed him down_. _I should have told him sooner._

 She whispered “Wallis, I was going to breastfeed you for a year or two but I may need a drink sooner than that. Think you could try a burger tonight?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't really canon for the story it is in, because I don't think she would wait this long to tell him and I don't think he would let her avoid him this long and it implies she is runs from that kind of confrontation and I don't think she does, but for some reason I just thought it was, I don't know, when people go off to college they can do things that are unexpected, to their parents, anyway.
> 
> Babies at 8 months old can apparently climb stairs, some of them, anyway. I saw it on a Mayo clinic website.


End file.
